January 23, 2007	Tuesday	Muharram 03, 1428

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KARACHI, Jan 22: Pakistan No 1 Aqeel Khan fought tooth and nail to overcome second seed Jalil Khan in a pulsating final to land men’s singles crown in the Rs200,000 Techron Pakistan Open tennis championship on Monday.

Aqeel, the top seed, survived a scare to win the battle 7-5, 7-6 (11-9) that lasted one- and-a-half hour at the CDGK Sports Complex.

This was Aqeel’s third successive triumph over Jalil in the final after the Federal Cup and National Clay Court last year at Islamabad.

“He (Jalil) played exceptionally well and I was not expecting such resistance from him,” the country’s top player told Dawn soon after the match.

“I had a lot of chances to upset but service fault at crucial stages eluded the maiden victory against elder brother,” Jalil, 24, said in post final comments.

Trailing 1-3 down Aqeel with his strong forehand shots broke Jalil’s serve and surged 4-3 up in the opener. Jalil earned a point to level 4-4all only to again trail 4-5. Exhibiting good volleys Jalil fought back to even the score 5-5all. Aqeel went up 6-5 before wrapping up the set 7-5. Jalil had double faulted twice in the opener.

After a see saw battle, Jalil moved 5-3 ahead and was a point away from extending his opponent who recovered to level 5-5all before winning 7-6 (11-9) on tie-breaker which kept spectators on their toes.

Aqeel earned a winning purse of Rs30,000 besides winners trophy while Jalil took home Rs14,000 and runners up trophy.

Making her appearance on the circuit after a year, former Pakistan No 1 Nida Waseem proved too good for Islamabad’s Sara Mansoor handing a 6-0, 6-1 defeat for the ladies singles crown.

She earned Rs15,000 while the loser got richer by Rs7,000.

The juniors U-17 title went to junior international Nasir Mushtaq who accounted for Zuhair Raza 6-1, 6-2.

The latter however, earned some consolation when he posted 6-3, 6-4 victory over Islamabad’s Sadanul Haq to capture boys U-15 title.

Nameer Shamsi grabbed honours in boys U-13 when he whipped Adil Kohari 6-4, 6-4.

The men’s doubles final between brothers — Aqeel Khan —Jalil Khan against the pair of Shehzad Khan — Asim Shafik could not be played due to time constraints and the prize money of Rs18,000 was equally distributed.

Results (finals):

Men’s singles: Aqeel Khan bt Jalil Khan 7-5, 7-6 (11-9).

Ladies singles: Nida Waseem bt Sara Mansoor 6-0, 6-1.

Juniors U-17 singles: Nasir Mushtaq bt Zuhair Raza 6-1, 6-2.

Boys U-15 singles: Zuhair Raza bt Sadanul Haq 6-3, 6-4.

Boys U-13 singles: Nameer Shamsi bt Adil Kohari 6-4, 6-4.